Closing Day

I'm hoping I can hold it together as I make this announcement...

 Today we sold our home.

 The home we stumbled upon by accident and fell so deeply in love with 5 years ago.

The home we spent two years together as just us.

 The home we brought our first baby home to.

The home we brought our second baby home to.  The guest room that later became Thomas's room where we hosted family and friends for the weekends.

The cozy living room that actually only looked like a living room briefly -- and then became a play room...

The kitchen where we spent so much time creating delicious meals.

  The bathroom where I rarely spent any time alone in. 

Our bedroom that I never got around to decorating.  The backyard we hosted many friends in for game nights, dinners, and parties: 2016: Football Party // Thomas' 1st Birthday //  Caroline's 2nd Birthday  2015: TaTa Party // Caroline's 1st Birthday 2013:  Summer Soiree // Fiesta Engagement

The back deck where Matt and I spent many late nights together listening to music and laughing over cocktails after the kids went to bed.

 The front porch I spent so much time rocking a baby on during my maternity leaves.

And of course, I'll never forget these front porch steps that we took so many photos on.

It's no surprise we've been wanting a little more space for our family for awhile now. In fact, a few years ago we almost sold our house but pulled it off the market when we found out we were pregnant with Thomas. Although 1800 square feet was the perfect size for two of us plus Charlie, things have gotten a little tight with two rambunctious toddlers and their toys. But despite living on top of each other, we knew we didn't want to move until we found our forever home -- ideally in our same neighborhood. However, we thought that would take about a decade to save for and find but our new home story turns out to be one of the craziest (and unplanned) things that has ever happened to us and we are excited to share all the details soon.

So today was actually a double closing day for us as we closed on two homes -- old and new. But we're not moving just yet! We are renting our house back for the next 10 days while we give our new home a little TLC.

However in the meantime, you can find me bawling my eyes out over closing the doors to our beloved bungalow...

Two Ingredient Slow Cooker Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin

Popping in to share a super simple two-ingredient recipe! Yesterday I posted a Jamaican Jerk Pork Tenderloin on my insta-stories and received a ton of questions about the sauce (and crock pot liners). My friend McKinsey made this for us last supper club and it was so delicious that many of us have already made it again for our families. Also, did I mention there are only two ingredients???

Directions: Line your crock pot with a Slow Cooker Liner. Lay 2 lbs of pork tenderloin(s) inside. Pour a bottle of Anntony's Caribbean Sauce on top. Cook on low for 8 hours. Shred pork in the last hour and let simmer for a little longer. Then serve to starving toddlers who will lick their plates clean...

*A note about the sauce! I purchase mine in my local grocery store but it is available on Amazon. It sells out quickly but is usually restocked often.

Five on Friday!

Surprise -- a post! Things continue to be wild around here but should hopefully settle soon and regular posting will resume. In the meantime, a few (or five) things...

one. Last week McKinsey hosted Supper Club! She made the most incredible Jamaican Pork Tenderloin in the slow cooker and served it alongside roasted cauliflower, green beans and rolls! Two thumbs up!

two. My friend Mel had her baby -- Madison Marie!!!! I've been over a couple times in the past few weeks to sneak in some itty bitty baby snuggles. She sleeps in this little basket all day! JK -- newborn pictures in progress here. But my goodness, I blacked out through both of my kids' newborn days and forgot how sweet and sleepy new babies are!

three. Last week we had another huge eye appointment and y'all (I'm already crying just writing this)...Thomas NAILED IT. Most of the time these appointments, which take around three hours to complete, are pure torture for us all. But Thomas was the biggest champ. He even had to get his eyes dilated twice (the first time wasn't enough) and let Dr. D give the most thorough eye exam while he SAT STILL in the chair BY HIMSELF (sorry I'm screaming with all caps, I'm just so excited and proud). In the past it would take three of us to hold him down and pry his eye lids open for an exam. Because we were able to get such good measurements we are tweaking his contacts with a new prescription. Previously we were working on his long distance vision and now we are going to switch to his reading vision -- and hopefully this will help us with things like STAIRS (our nightmare)!!! Without lenses in his eyes we can only pick one vision -- near-sighted or far-sighted vision to work on at a time, so Thomas will always struggle a bit with whichever vision he isn't working on over the next few years, until he gets a permanent lens implanted in his eye. Anyway, this little dude is SO DAMN AWESOME. I couldn't be more proud of how he's handled this journey with so much strength! Oh, and if you know us in real life, don't be offended if Thomas gives you his confused stink-eye look if you're interacting with him from too far away -- you're blurry!

four. In other exciting Thomas news -- we finally got his summer shoes in! Poor guy had been wearing his sissy's pink natives and pink tennis shoes for a bit while we waited on his new kicks to arrive. He and Caroline now wear the SAME size shoe. I've written about my love for Natives before but these shoes are absolutely our favorite summer shoes -- they are durable, breathable and perfect for errands and trips to the splash pad.

five. Yep, still using HelloFresh, thank goodness. If I didn't have these meals waiting on my doorstep there's a good chance we'd be surviving off of cereal 7 days a week right now. But instead we're only eating cereal 4 days a week and amazing things like pork chops with crispy chorizo Brussels sprouts smothered in balsamic glaze.